The Princess and the Servant
by tentsubasa
Summary: This is kind of an alternate universe story. Pre and post-"Digimon" season 1. Even though it takes place in high school, season 2 characters don't show up. Jou and Mimi are playing a secret game that will go on until someone finds out about it.
1. The Game

**Hello! I just recently rediscovered **_**Digimon**_** and the Joe and Mimi pairing. I was originally going to write a song-based story for my writing debut in this realm, but…since those tend to be one-shots and I was having some trouble with part of the middle, I ended up finishing the first chapter of this one first instead.**

**This story is basically a retelling of the one-episode drama, **_**Kanojo to no Tadashii Asobikata**_**, which basically means ****the correct way to play with her****. The drama won an award at the 2006 TV Asahi Century of Newcomers contest for best scenario drama, which I think is something along the lines of most original script.**

**Thoughts are denoted by italics within quotes.**

**I hope you like the first chapter. (^_^)**

******Disclaimer: I do not own _Digimon,_ _Kanojo to no Tadashii Asobikata_, or either of their affiliates.**

* * *

It all started on a rainy day.

A young girl with long, light brown pigtails sat on a swing in a park under a bright, pink-and-white-checked umbrella. She had been carefully dressed in a cute pink skirt and white blouse, balancing out the intensity of her bright red, Ransel backpack. On her feet she wore long, white socks with equally white shoes that had extra bright white shoelaces. The girl's large, light brown eyes stared dully out into the rain in boredom. "_I wonder how much longer I can put off going home. Mama and Papa won't be home until later, and I hate being home alone._" She jutted out her lower lip slightly, marring the sweetness of her pretty face. "_Why did that after school activity have to get rained out? It's so unfair._"

"Tachikawa-san?" a boy with azure hair and dark eyes stopped near her swing. He wore a white t-shirt with a red-and-black plaid, collared, flannel shirt over it and black jeans with white tennis shoes. Even at the tender age of nine, he was fairly tall for his age, at least half a head taller than the rest of his classmates, making him almost tower over the small girl. He pushed his large glasses up his nose and shifted a little to help the books in his red messenger bag settle a little bit.

Mimi looked over at the sound of his voice. "_Oh, it's one of the Kido boys from downstairs_," she observed. "_Jou-senpai, I think_…" she mused to herself.

"What're you doing?" he asked, slightly curious. He usually didn't bother to associate with the supposedly eccentric girl much, but his surprise at seeing her alone at the park compelled him to speak.

"What does it look like I'm doing? Can't you tell just by looking?" she responded in a slightly aloof tone.

He shifted again; the books he had gotten at the library were heavy. "I mean, why are you sitting out here in the rain? If you don't hurry back, won't your parents be worried?" At her prolonged silence, he realized the answer. "Oh, no one's home…" he mumbled and went to take a seat on a neighboring swing. They sat awkwardly for a few seconds before he sheepishly apologized, "Sorry for prying; my mom is always at home, so she's pretty strict about getting home on time…"

Mimi pressed her lips together slightly, not wanting to think about the empty apartment that awaited her. Her eyes flicked over to him for a second. Little did either of them know that her next words would forever inexplicably entwine their lives together. "Hey, want to play a game?" she burst out suddenly, turning to fix her eyes on him.

"What kind of game?" he responded in a slightly wary tone. The girl had a bit of a reputation for being unpredictable and selfish; now that he thought about it, that was probably why his parents didn't really encourage him to play with her, despite the fact that the Tachikawas were probably the closest family in their vicinity with children about his age.

"It's a simple game," she wheedled. "I'm a princess, and you're my servant."

"Huh?" he asked dumbly, his glasses slipping a little bit down his nose.

Eagerly she explained, "We're actually a beautiful princess and her servant from a far away country. But because of some trouble in the kingdom, we're being hunted down. That's why in order to hide our identities we're pretending to be normal elementary school students here. When we're at school, we'll just be schoolmates as usual, but when we're alone, we'll revert to our princess and servant roles." She gave him a slightly stern look and stressed, "When we're alone, you have to think of me as a princess and treat me as such."

"Uh…" Jou paused to think it over.

"_It's kind of a weird game, but there isn't any harm in it, right? If it makes her feel better, why not? I want to be a doctor when I grow up, and Shin-niisan always says that a doctor's job is to help people feel better._" He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "_I made her feel bad earlier, so I should help cheer her up. If I play along, she'll probably start to feel better._" Before he could voice his agreement, a new thought occurred to him, giving him a pause.

Cautiously he asked, "How long will this game last?"

She screwed her face up into a thoughtful expression before replying decidedly, "Forever."

"Forever?" he gasped in dismay, his glasses almost falling off his face.

"Forever," she affirmed before clarifying, "We'll keep playing until someone discovers our relationship." Then she looked at him very seriously and emphatically stated, "A princess' order is absolute."

He creased his eyebrows and pushed his glasses up his nose again. There was no way he'd do this forever! Not on your life! "Hey, Tachikawa-san…"

She stubbornly looked away from him in silence, refusing to acknowledge that he had spoken to her.

With a sigh, he gave in. "_A doctor's job is to make people feel better. And it can't be _that_ hard for us to get caught, right?_" he reasoned. "_This game will probably be over by the end of the week_."

He stood up. "Princess," he started.

"Yes?" She stood and turned to him with a smile, delighted that he was willing to play along.

"If it's alright with you, may we head home? There's a TV show I want to watch."

"Of course," she replied generously.

He nodded to her and began to head toward the direction of their apartment complex.

"You're leaving before the princess does?" she asked, clearly rebuking him.

He stopped and turned with a surprised look on his face. "Uh…?" was all he managed to get out before she strode past him. He turned, a bit flustered, and ran after her bobbing pink-and-white-checked umbrella.

* * *

**And that's the first chapter. In the drama, they flash back on this scene, but I thought it might make more sense to start at the beginning. This is the only chapter that will take place pre-Digiworld.**

**I've wanted to write this story for ages, but my usual characters, Kazuki Hihara and Kahoko Hino from the anime **_**La Corda d'Oro**_**, just didn't fit the bill. You can't imagine how pleased I was when I stumbled upon **_**Digimon**_** and this couple again, and I realized how perfect a fit they'd be.**

**A Ransel backpack is kind of the classic Japanese elementary school backpack. If you watch just about anything with Japanese elementary age school kids, you're bound to see at least one. You can read more about it and see an image of it here: en...wikipedia.. wiki/Randoseru.**

**Please review****.**


	2. Eight Years Later

**Howdy. (^_^) Here's the next chapter. (^_^) I'm sorry it took awhile.**

**I was so surprised by how many reviews I got. (^_^) Since most of the Season 1 stuff is from a long time ago, I thought people had mostly stopped reading. I'm so glad to see that there are still some dedicated fans out there. (^o^)**

**For those of you who're waiting for "The Journey," the next chapter will be done soon, I promise! I just really felt like a chapter was extremely overdue considering that there was only one. And now, we shall start chapter 2. (^_^)/**

*sigh* Jou and Koushiro's friend, fellow nerd, and classmate, Tsuyoshi Koyama, gazed longingly at a figure that seemed to waltz through the lunch room. "I still can't believe you guys are friends with Tachikawa-san," he murmured dreamily.

Koushiro didn't even bother to raise his eyes from the program output he was scanning for anomalies. As president of the computer club, he could fairly often be found spending almost all his free time in the lab, but he made sure to make time to eat lunch with his friends in the cafeteria. "It's really not that big a deal," he stated, taking a bite of his sandwich. "She's just like any other girl."

Tsuyoshi shook his head emphatically. "You just don't understand Izumi-senpai."

Jou sipped his bottle of green tea and smiled a little indulgently at his young friend before Mimi's eyes coincidentally met his for a brief moment. She sent him a small, friendly smile before sliding her eyes back to her gaggle of girlfriends, chiming into whatever the topic of the day was.

"She's perfect," Tsuyoshi stated as he continued his ode to Mimi. "Not only is she pretty, but she's smart, funny, popular, and has a good personality." With a triumphant look in his eyes, he turned to Koushiro and asked, "Did you know that she rescued a puppy from the rain during that thunderstorm we had last week? Now would just _any girl_ do something like that?"

Koushiro rolled his eyes in response and resumed typing away on his keyboard, not deigning to answer the question.

"Kido-senpai," Tsuyoshi stated, turning his attention to the blue-haired youth.

"Hmm?" Jou replied serenely, taking another sip of his tea.

"You've been her neighbor ever since before elementary school, right?"

Jou felt his grip on his bottle tighten slightly. Where was he going with this?

"Has Tachikawa-san always been as beautiful and perfect as she is now?"

"_So that's what he's about_," he thought in relief, loosening his grip on the bottle of tea before answering a bit sheepishly, "Well, we really mostly got to know each other while we were at summer camp…"

Tsuyoshi nodded sympathetically. "I suppose that would make sense." With another sigh, he turned to gaze back at the object of his affections. "It's thanks to summer camp that you two got to be her friends at all."

Looking at Koushiro, Jou rolled his eyes as his red-haired friend smirked and nodded in understanding. Neither of them had found any peace ever since their junior had realized that they were actually friends with the great Mimi Tachikawa.

Raising his eyes to the clock, Jou quickly stood up. "Whoops! I've got to go! Tazaki-san and I have to help move some books for Sumida-sensei."

The others nodded and bid him good bye as he ran off to another table. As the girl and boy walked off together, chatting amiably, a pair of light brown eyes followed them from across the lunch room.

Mimi felt her expression sour when she saw Jou and the other girl walk out together chattering away like good friends. The unpleasant feelings of jealousy unfurling in her stomach caused her eyes to narrow as she shot a venomous glare at the back of the girl's head. Quickly dashing the unpleasant look from her face before her friends noticed, she made a mental note to interrogate Jou about it later as she turned back to the others with a bubbly smile.

Later that evening, she alighted from the train platform, and slowly looked around until her light brown eyes fell on a tall, lanky boy with chin-length, blue hair and glasses. Unlike her, who was still in her school uniform, he was dressed in jeans and a navy blue, collared, button-up shirt. Over the shirt he wore a warm, deerskin-brown coat and a beige wool scarf. When he noticed her, he straightened up, putting down his book and moving away from the wall that he had been huddling by in the cold.

They were alone.

Suddenly breaking the silence, she demanded imperially, "Say it."

With a slight bow, Jou replied, "I'm here to escort you home…Princess."

"Good work," Mimi replied smugly before walking over to him and giving him her bag, which he in turn stowed in the basket attached to the front of his bicycle.

He quickly plunked himself down on the bicycle seat and waited for her to get comfortable on the back rack. When he felt her hands clutch the back of his jacket, he started pedaling toward home.

"Am I _tired_!" she groaned, leaning her head slightly against his back. Snuggling into his back, she lightly suggested, "Maybe I should just sleep here."

Hiding a smile, he lightly reproved, "You'd probably fall off the bike, Princess. It won't be long until you're home again."

With a pretty pout, she pulled her head away from his back before asking nonchalantly, "So, who was that girl earlier?" She kept her eyes firmly trained on the scenery passing by them, lest he glance back and deduce exactly why she was asking.

"Girl?" Jou asked in confusion.

"The one at lunch" she clarified, still keeping a reign on her voice.

"Oh, do you mean Tazaki-san? She's in my class."

Mimi swallowed a little bit of saliva before looking at him and timidly asking the question that had plagued her all day: "Are you two dating?"

With a slight laugh, Jou replied, "No, that's what I was trying to explain. The two of us had been assigned to move some books for Sumida-sensei before class started." He shook his head, thinking smilingly about the girl behind him. She always liked to be up on the current gossip, didn't she?

"Oh…?" she asked, sounding bored. Since there was nothing more of interest to note, she stated, "I'm tired of this subject, let's talk about something else," as she leaned her head against his back again. "Tell me something interesting," she called to him, smiling contentedly.

"Something interesting…" he mused, thinking for a couple of minutes before remembering the lunch conversation. "How is your dog?"

"Huh?" she asked, pulling away and looking at him blankly.

"I heard that you took in a lost puppy the other day to save it from the thunderstorm we were having."

Mimi squealed, "Oh, I wish it were true! I'd love a cute little doggie, but you know pets aren't allowed in our apartments." She pressed one finger to the corner of her bottom lip in a cute way. "What kind of doggie would I have if I could…" she wondered aloud before launching into a monologue about the good and bad points of every kind of dog she could think of.

Jou just chuckled and listened to her chatter, feeling relaxed and content.

Suddenly she changed the subject. "It's cold, isn't it?" she said with a shiver.

"Yeah, it is," he agreed.

"Brr! It's really cold!" she exclaimed, exaggerating her shivering as she leaned her side up against him.

"We'll be home soon," he assured her.

She poked him in the back and stated again, more emphatically, "It is seriously _freezing_ out here!"

Jou stopped the bike as something clicked in his brain. "_Oh, that's what she wanted._"

Putting the kickstand down, he got off and pulled off his jacket, draping it around her shoulders. "Are your hands cold, Princess?" he asked. At her nod, he cupped her small hands in his and lifted them to his lips. For a few minutes they stayed that way: she lightly perched on the bike as he bent over and breathed warm air onto her fingers.

He focused on keeping the flow of air steady, knowing that if he lost his focus for even a second, he'd pay for it later. He had worked hard over the years to hide the feelings he felt for this girl, and for the most part he did reasonably well. But stolen moments and touches like these were the hardest. A princess and a servant—he would have laughed if in his heart of hearts he didn't so desperately wish it could be true someday. "_A princess and a servant_," he reminded himself, "_Can never be together._" And since that was so, he'd have to accept that for the rest of his life, his traitorous heart would torture him.

But unbeknownst to him, his wish was closer to being granted than he thought.

Mimi cautiously allowed her eyes to wander across his face. He had his eyes downcast like always, so the likelihood of him catching her gazing at him was next to none. For the briefest moment, she allowed the longing for her heart's desire to show on her face. Yes, she loved him. Ever since the Digiworld, she had found that she loved him. His gentleness and his awkward kindness and concern became even more endearing as they wandered around together in the Digiworld by themselves. Even though they had already known each other for four years, she found herself surprised again and again at how he managed to rise to the occasion, showing a bravery and level-headedness that she wouldn't have ever attributed to the boy had they not had their digital adventure. They had both grown so much as a result of their time in the Digiworld; and after coming back for good, she had been able to appreciate the changes and realize how much her affection for him had grown.

She wasn't an idiot; she knew he didn't, couldn't, care for her, at least not the way she did for him, but she kept hoping that somehow someday her deepest wish would be granted and he'd love her in return. As he steadily continued to breathe warmth into her fingers, she nervously bit her lip. She supposed she should tell him. After all, she had never had much trouble speaking her mind in the past and Jou had proven himself to be pretty dense, but…this…this was different. "_A girl shouldn't have to chase boys. He should make the first move_," her mother's matter-of-fact statement arose in her mind. Mimi sighed quietly and ran her eyes over the hair that she longed to rake her fingers through. "_Well mother,_" she thought with a melancholy look, "_For the last five years, I've kept my mouth shut._" Longingly she gazed at their clasped hands. "_I want him to be the one to initiate a romantic relationship, but when will it happen? I've already waited for so long…_" She felt her lower lip begin to quiver before she stubbornly squeezed her eyes tightly shut. "_No! I _will not _cry! If he sees…if he sees…_" she looked up into the starry night sky and blinked a couple of times to banish the moisture that had beaded on her eyelashes, "_I might not be able to hide my secret._" Setting her jaw a little more firmly, she reminded herself, "_Besides, maybe on Sunday, I'll be lucky._"

"Have your hands been warmed sufficiently, Princess?" his quiet voice cut through her thoughts.

"Huh?" She quickly brought her gaze back down to his bowed head. "Oh, yes, that will be enough," she dismissed.

Giving a regal bow, he looked up and smiled before mounting the bike again and pushing off. His breath came out in small white clouds as he pedaled. "It's cold," he muttered, shivering a bit from the lack of his jacket.

"There, there," she replied sweetly, snuggling up to him a little bit to offer him some refuge from the cold. "Just bear with it; we'll be home soon."

"Hey! You two!" an authoritative voice called out, making them both almost jump. A policeman rode by on a bicycle. "It's illegal for two people to ride one bicycle."

Mimi quickly jumped off of the back and called back, "Sorry!" She turned to Jou with an indignant look and reprimanded, "What were you thinking, Jou-senpai? You know that having two people on one bike is against the law."

He just nodded mutely as she ran off ahead slightly, clinging to his jacket. They were pretty close to home by this point.

Suddenly she stopped and turned to look at him over her shoulder. "Jou-senpai?"

He looked up questioningly.

With a grin that stretched from ear to ear, she announced, "I have a date on Sunday, so make sure you're free." Then with a winning smile, she turned back around and started walking.

He lowered his head to cover the dark look on his face. Why in the world she insisted on dragging him along on her dates, he had no idea. She had never shown any intention of dating anyone before this past year, so why now? And why did he have to come? There's only so much a man can stand. Looking up briefly to observe her steadily getting smaller and smaller, he tiredly thought about her date a couple months before. He had almost come out of hiding and punched the guy in the face when he saw him make a move to put his arm around her. In his opinion, the guy wasn't fit to breathe the same air as her, much less touch her. Luckily, no one was injured because she had flawlessly evaded his move and turned him down for another date.

After that eye-opening incident though, Jou had quickly learned to bury his nose in a book or study guide to keep from driving himself insane with the roiling longing, jealousy, and bitterness that inadvertently surfaced. He had been conscious of his feelings for her shortly after their experiences in the Digiworld and had felt slight twinges of unpleasantness whenever Mimi had gotten a little too close to any other boy for Jou's liking. But jealousy that drove him to the point of almost causing him to resort to physical violence was foreign to him, and more than a little frightening. Before, he had believed that while he cared for her, he had a pretty good reign on his feelings; and since it wasn't like they could ever _be _together, he could keep those feelings from getting to the point of being unreasonable. But after that day, he knew that he would have to work much, much harder at keeping his feelings under lock and key. The innocent care and love he felt for his friend had somehow grown to become far deeper and more passionate than he had ever anticipated. He exhaled heavily in frustration. "_But despite this new knowledge, it's not like I can ever _tell_ her_." No, that was out of the question; at least, if he wanted his heart and their friendship to remain intact it was.

With a resigned sigh, he finally started to follow Mimi home, mentally working out his schedule so he'd be able to follow her around on Sunday.

**And that's chapter two. As far as the drama goes, this chapter covers a lot more than the previous. I guess since they're in the same high school, this has now officially gone into the alternate universe branch.**

**The other characters' names actually come from their names in the drama. The only difference is that I created Tsuyoshi Koyama's name by combining the names of the two characters in the drama that he was based on. In the drama, while I found those two characters highly annoying, I couldn't write them out completely because they do manage to convey a decent amount of information about the female lead character.**

**I have a few Jou + Mimi pictures that I really like, and this chapter features one. It can be found here: xavren...deviantart...com/favourites/6731226#/dz0dqf. I thought it was very sweet of Jou to warm Mimi's fingers like that. =D**

**Please review****.**


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